important attributes of biological species
Answers
Answer:
Biological Attributes are important attributes of a particular species. Biological Attributes are ONLY relevant to the Species and Search sections. The format for biological attributes is "Attribute: Descriptor" (eg. 'flower: yellow', 'leaf: prickly', 'wing: green') which is usually in the form "Noun: Adjective".
Answer:
Explanation:
Biological Attributes are important attributes of a particular species. Biological Attributes are ONLY relevant to the Species and Search sections.
The format for biological attributes is "Attribute: Descriptor" (eg. 'flower: yellow', 'leaf: prickly', 'wing: green') which is usually in the form "Noun: Adjective". Each part of the attributes is a complete text string (no spaces) so multiple words must be hyphenated (eg. "head-hair: black") or use the underscore (eg. "juvenile_leaf: grey").
When you start typing in an Attribute, a dropdown box appears that lists all the similar Attributes used in NatureShare to date (ordered by popularity - most used Attribute is listed first). You don't have to use these and you can simply ignore the dropdown box but it can be an advantage to use what is already commonly used. Choosing from the dropdown box also helps to avoid the introduction of typos.
There are two main types of Biological Attributes:
Basic or main observable characteristics of the species such as "flower: yellow", "petals: 5", "leaf: prickly", "habit: groundcover", "wing: green", "body: yellow" - this is the basic information that people observe when they see the species, or things that help in narrowing down a search in NatureShare. The best attributes are minimalist (eg. "flower: yellow", "wing: blue") - see Prickly Tea-tree for a good example; pictured right. If an attribute has multiple features (eg. multi-coloured) then it is often best to split this into separate attributes; eg. if a wing is red, black and white, rather than one attribute, "wing: red-black-white", searching often works better if three attributes are added - ie. "wing: red", "wing: black" and "wing: white". Similarly, if the colour of the species can vary or can be interpreted in different ways (eg. yellow-orange, cream-white, cream-yellow, purple-mauve) then it is best to split this into separate attributes (eg. rather than "flower: cream-yellow", enter two attributes separately as "flower: cream" and "flower: yellow").
Detailed features that help distinguish it from other similar species (or subspecies). These are often more complicated and often not designed to be searchable (eg. for Drooping Mistletoe, "centre-flower-of-3: sessile" or for the Chocolate Lily "flower: 1-per-axil").
HOW YOU CAN HELP: If you find a species without basic attributes entered in NatureShare (see item 1 above), please enter them (especially when setting up a new 'collection' or when a new species is added to a collection because without these attributes the collection cannot be searched properly). Attributes presented in this help section are not meant to be exhaustive - if you want to enter other attributes, NatureShare allows this - anything is possible.
Click on the species category below for the main attributes used for that species category.
Butterflies
Caterpillars
Dragonflies and Damselflies
Moths
Plants